Karni Mata Temple, Deshnoke, Bikaner, Rajasthan

Karni Mata temple at Deshnoke lies 40 minutes away from Bikaner, Rajasthan. Karni Mata is considered as an incarnation of Goddess Durga. She is the patron deity of the royal kingdoms of Jodhpur and Bikaner. An interesting fact about this 15th century temple is that it houses around 20,000 mice. Yes, MICE. Please be very careful while visiting this temple for if you kill a mouse accidentally by stepping on it, you’ll have to donate an idol of mouse made of gold or rather silver to the temple. Among these black mice if you manage to spot a white one, then it is considered lucky for locals believe white mice to be a manifestation of Karni Mata herself. Numerous pigeons also share space with the mice in this temple.

Thanks again for these amazing pictures! It is like traveling to wonderful places and discovering new things 🙂 I must say I was totally amazed by the monuments… but the mice scared me, are they sacred animals? it seems people are taking care of them and feeding them… maybe they consider they are spirit of dead people or they are the guardian of the temple… in that case I suppose it makes it more poetic!